Sunday, May 05, 2013

MLB Game Picks - Sunday: May 5, 2013

Another day, another postponement. This time it was the Mets and Braves down in Atlanta. I am not sure if the game had been played would have helped or hindered what ended up as a pretty good day. Jeremy Guthrie was terrific for the Royals. Phil Hughes was great for the Yankees. The Nationals finally won a game that Stephen Strasburg started, though he did not get the win. Alexi Ogando shut down the Red Sox as predicted. Hisashi Iwakuma shut down the Blue Jays as picked here.

But there were some surprises. David Price got smoked at Coors Field as Jon Garland continued his comeback season. Jose Fernandez was brilliant for the Marlins as the Phillies only got one hit--by Freddy Galvis of all people. Scott Kazmir got his first win since 2010 and although I am happy for him, his effort killed that pick.

But overall, it was a pretty good day after some not so good days. Sunday is here and it is always the best day of the week in baseball. The picks:

The Indians over the Twins: Here comes that Muppets chef again. Say it with me now: Corey Kluber. Saying that name in chef voices is one of life's true pleasures. And, yes, I am an idiot. Mike Pelfrey goes for the Twins. Don't look now, but the Indians are at .500.

The Yankees over the Athletics: Dan Straily is the kind of pitcher who gives the Yankees fits. He has only walked one batter so far in eleven plus innings. But he is right-handed and at least that helps. Andy Pettitte needs to be better than he was in his last outing.

The Blue Jays over the Mariners: Are any teams as low as the Blue Jays are right now? Holy cow, it has been unbelievable how seldom this team even has a chance to win a game. Brandon Morrow is going to have to pitch a great game. Joe Saunders is going to have to have a bad BABIP game. But somehow this Toronto team needs to win a game.

The Braves over the Mets: The rain-out allows the Braves to skip Teheran and go with their ace, Tim Hudson today. That helps their cause. Jonathon Niese being left-handed plays into the Braves' hands as the Braves as a team have an 85 point OPS advantage against southpaw starters than right-handed starters. See? And you folks still think I wing this, right?

The Pirates over the Nationals: The Nats' lineup misses Bryce Harper and I think Mike Morse. I still do not get that move. But anyway, Wandy Rodriguez is going to shut them down and the Pirates will score a few off of Gio Gonzalez, who has not yet hit his strike this season.

The Brewers over the Cardinals: Yeah, this is probably a stupid pick as the Brewers are the Blue Jays of the National League where nothing is going right. But traditionally, Jaime Garcia has not pitched well on the road. And Marco Estrada is capable of pitching a good game. The bullpens on these two teams! Ugh!

The Reds over the Cubs: First of all, I have picked all home teams and that is scaring me. Second of all, the Cubs are pitching Edwin Jackson, who is showing why all those GMs over the winter said, "Um, no thanks." Mat Latos needs to avoid Alfonso Soriano's bat, which is heating up.

The Phillies over the Marlins: Okay, back to normal. Not that Roy Halladay will ever get back to his normal. But he should beat the Marlins. Kevin Slowey pitches Slow stuff and sloweyer and sloweyest stuff which could baffle the Phillies' weak lineup though.

The Rangers over the Red Sox: Oh! I would pay to see this one: Jon Lester versus Yu Darvish? Delicious match-up. I will take the Rangers at home.

The Orioles over the Angels: Sheesh, Angels. How can I ever pick you? In desperation, you start Jerome Williams who has been terrific in long relief. But as a starter? We'll see. And then he will only go five or six innings and then there is no Jerome Williams to relieve. Then what? Jason Hammel will continue to defy logic as all Orioles' pitchers do.

The Tigers over the Astros: Could Philip Humber lose twenty games this season? It has not been done in a very long time and he has a shot at 0-6. And guess who he gets to go against today: only Justin Verlander.

The Diamondbacks over the Padres: I have a good chance to go with my man-crush here in Ian Kennedy. His fly ball pitching should work well at Petco. Edinson Volquez has not been as laughable lately though.

The Rockies over the Bay Rays: The Rockies are raking. Tulo and CarGo and the rest are enjoying Coors Field to the fullest. Alex Cobb's stuff will not play as well in the thin air. And Jhoulys Chacin has been very good.

The Giants over the Dodgers: Okay, you Giants. You win. It makes no sense that you always seem to find a way to win. But you do. And it is uncanny. Two walk-off homers in two days!? You guys are outdoing even yourselves. Today, somehow, you will even beat Hyun-Jin Ryu with a Matt Cain who has not won a game yet this season.

And the Game of the Day!

The Royals over the White Sox: This is fun, eh Kansas City fans? This Royals team is fun to watch. They did not strike out at all in yesterday's game. How is that for fun? Wade Davis follows Guthrie's great start with one of his own as these things are contagious. Jose Quintana is the victim.

Followers

Privacy Policy

The Flagrant Fan (Glimmer Tree, LLC) knows that you care about how your personal information is used and shared, and we take your privacy very seriously. Please read the following to learn more about our privacy policy. By visiting our website, you are accepting the practices outlined in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy covers The Flagrant Fan's treatment of personal information that The Flagrant Fan gathers when you are on the The Flagrant Fan website and when you use The Flagrant Fan services. This policy does not apply to the practices of third parties that The Flagrant Fan does not own or control, or to individuals that The Flagrant Fan does not employ or manage.

Information Collected by The Flagrant Fan: We only collect personal information that is relevant to the purpose of our website. This information allows us to provide you with a customized and efficient experience. We do not process this information in a way that is incompatible with this objective. We collect the following types of information from our The
Flagrant Fan users: 1. Information You Provide to Us: We receive and store any information you enter on our website or provide to us in any other way. You can choose not to provide us with certain information, but then you may not be able to take advantage of many of our special features. 2. automatic Information: o We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. The Flagrant Fan and its authorized agents automatically receive and record
certain "traffic data" on their server logs from your browser including your IP address, The Flagrant Fan cookie information, and the page you requested. The Flagrant Fan uses this traffic data to help diagnose problems with its servers, analyze trends and administer the website. o The Flagrant Fan may collect and, on any page, display the total counts that page has been viewed. o Many companies offer programs that help you to visit websites anonymously. While The Flagrant Fan will not be able to provide you with a personalized experience if we cannot recognize you, we want you to be aware that these programs are available. E-mail Communications The Flagrant Fan is very concerned about your privacy and we will never provide your email address to a third party without your explicit permission, as detailed in
the "Sharing Your Information" section below. The Flagrant Fan may send out e-mails with The Flagrant Fan-related news, products, offers, surveys or promotions. CookiesCookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer's hard drive through your Web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser and tell us how and when pages in our website are visited and by how many people. The Flagrant Fan cookies do not collect personal information, and we do not combine information collected through cookies with other personal information to tell us who you are or what your screen name or e-mail address is. The "help" portion of the toolbar on the majority of browsers will direct you on how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to command the browser to tell you when you receive a new cookie, or how to fully disable cookies. We recommend that you leave the cookies activated because cookies allow you to use some of The Flagrant Fan's coolest features. The Flagrant Fan's advertising partners may place a cookie on your browser that makes it possible to collect anonymous non-personally identifiable information that ad delivery systems use to present more relevant ads. If you would prefer to opt-out of this standard practice, please visit our advertising partner Platform-A's privacy policy and opt-out page. Sharing Your Information Rest assured that we neither rent nor sell your personal information to anyone and that we will share your personal information only as described below. The Flagrant Fan Personnel: The Flagrant Fan personnel and authorized consultants and/or contractors may have access to user information if necessary in the normal
course of The Flagrant Fan business. Business Transfers: In some cases, we may choose to buy or sell assets. In these types of transactions, user information is typically one of the business assets that is transferred. Moreover, if The Flagrant Fan, or substantially all of its assets, were acquired, user
information would be one of the assets that is transferred. Protection of The Flagrant Fan and Others: We may release personal information when we believe in good faith that release is necessary to comply with a law; to enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other policies; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of The Flagrant Fan, our employees, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and
credit risk reduction. Syndication: The Flagrant Fan allows for the RSS syndication of all of its public content within the The
Flagrant Fan website. With Your Consent: Except as noted above, we will contact you when your personal information is shared with third parties or used for a purpose incompatible
with the purpose(s) for which it was originally collected, and you will be able to opt out to prevent the sharing of this information. Children Under 18 Years of Age You must be 13 years and older to register to use the The Flagrant Fan website. As a result, The Flagrant Fan does not specifically collect information about children. If we learn that The Flagrant Fan has collected information from a child under the age of 13, we will delete that information as quickly as possible. We recommend that minors between the ages of 13 and 18
ask and receive their parents' permission before using The Flagrant Fan or sending information about themselves or anyone else over the Internet. Changes to this Privacy Policy The Flagrant Fan may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time, at its sole discretion. Use of information we collect now is subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time such information is used. If we make changes to the Privacy Policy, we will notify you by posting an announcement on the The
Flagrant Fan website so you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances if any, it is disclosed. Conditions of Use If you decide to visit The Flagrant Fan website, your visit and any possible dispute over privacy is subject to this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use, including limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes, and application of California state law. Effective Date of this Privacy Policy This Privacy Policy is effective as of October 21, 2010 and last updated October 21, 2010.